Article has been taken down? Hmmm. Maybe it won't happen after all. The story went that at previous Copa Americas teams had been paid late or partially, and that if we hosted hopefully they'd get their money on time and in the percent promised. You could say something similar for Gold Cup. It might be more sporting to spread it out, and some of the smaller countries could have used the cash to jump start their federations. But if it's here they can charge $50/ticket and up for tens of thousands, federation gets their cut of the gate money. Whether it passes through to players and development, another story. I think it would be to our benefit to have to qualify for something like this on top of playing in it. And for us to at least a chunk of the time have to travel to some other country for a few weeks, live and train together, perform on hostile territory. We always treat Confed Cup like the only way to get that, but actually in most of the rest of the world you don't get to hog hosting, even if the neighboring countries' soccer executives "are not to be trusted with hands in the till."
the article is glitchy. i clicked on it the first time and it worked. went back and got the ol "access denied". went back again a got same error. Then kept trying and got through to the article. not sure what causes that but if it doesn't work for you, here ya go: Action Images Report: Copa America, Gold Cup to merge, play regularly in US According to a report on ESPNDeportes.com, negotiations between CONMEBOL and CONCACAF officials to merge the Copa America and Gold Cup tournaments into one competition are nearly complete and would result in one championship for the Western Hemisphere that would take place every four years and would be held in the United States. The report quoted two CONCACAF officials saying the negotiations are close to being completed, with one saying that, “CONMEBOL asked to give their response after the [Copa America Centenario] tournament. But today, they are convinced that [at] the next [CONMEBOL] Congress, it will be approved.’’ The report said the discussions have been ongoing for more than a year. Officials believe such a tournament – which would do away with separate national-team championships for each confederation – would be better off taking place in the US because of the superior facilities, including stadiums and hotels. The report also cited the economics of hosting the tournament in the US as more advantageous than hosting in South America, pointing out that some teams taking part in Copa America 2015 in Chile did not receive their guaranteed money in a timely fashion or did not receive the full amount. Copa America has been held every four years since the 2007 edition, with tournaments scheduled for Brazil in 2019 and Ecuador in 2023. The Gold Cup has been held since 1991, mostly in two-year intervals, and the US has hosted each one, with Mexico hosting some games in 1993 and 2003 and Canada hosting two games in 2015.
Yeah I hope the S Am countries grumble about that, we get truly neutral siting, and occasionally get some USA games down here. I get annoyed with basically being the host only for US-Mexico games as almost a road choice (I am not counting that Canada rubbish, they didn't call in anyone worth a darn I ain't paying to watch 0-0 bum fights).
Soccer market is already saturated, ticket prices too high, this is a one and done deal. People care about US, Mexico, Argentina, Brazil. Everyone else is mostly tickets sold because you had to buy the full package.
So far the average attendance this tournament is nearly at a 100% increase from last year's Copa America.
It was in Chile last year, with a population of 18 million. A lot more people here (plus Mexico & US) I suspect the costs to rent out their stadiums are a lot lower than the US and ours are a lot larger. There's clearly money to be made with the tourney in the US, I just don't know if you do it that often if it works. There is a lot of friendly summer soccer in many cities this year and only so many dollars to go around.
Yeah, the prices are too darned high, I am not bothering to pay to watch other countries play. It's like double what Gold Cup has been for the cheapest tickets. I have some naïve hope the prices come down if it's a regular thing but I doubt it.
Sorry dude but given the choice I'd rather watch a US or neutral tournament game than a cash cow friendly. I want to see people play full games with money on the table. I've watched the Dynamo in all the different tournaments and MLS but paying for an ordinary tour game to me is just being milked for money. Only two club friendlies I've ever been to, one I was in the warmup game for, second was Everton-America at Reliant, which was one of the first soccer games there and pre-Dynamo when you took what you got. To me watching these friendlies are like drowning people thrown a lifesaver. It's snobs usually too good for MLS who want something better, but don't get to Europe much/ever to actually see it. It's our pre-MLS state. Given the choice I would think those people would prefer Brazil to ManU. I would expect the tours to abandon that chunk of the summer to Copa America and either come early/late like Real Sociedad, or come on different years. I can't believe the two would bump. Independent of that discussion I can buy there might be potential for diminishing returns and on that basis agree that even if coming here a few cycles solves the payment in full and on time issues, it could peter out with time. But then you can get into whether there might be a broader integration, rivalry creation, more reasons to watch. Copa Libertadores/CCL merger. World Cup qualifying merger. Maybe Copa America qualifying. As things have progressed it has always struck me as odd that TnT just off the coast, and even Suriname and Guyana on the mainland, qualify with us and not SAm. Ideally we wouldn't host every time, but I think the sheer quality of it, and grander possibilities, will have some attraction.
With soccer growing in popularity with every world cup in the US merging conmebol and ccc should be the end game to compete with UEFA. I could see the copa america gaining more and more interest as well with each iteration. If Canada can become 2nd tier team that would go along says too.
Which would be great if it got rid of two Gold Cups per cycle and replaced that with a single Americas Cup ( I know, the yachting thing has that name). If it's like this, an added friendly tourney in between two idiotic GCups, it's too much and there's no way it makes sense. One reason the UEFA Cup matters is because it's only once every four years. Another reason is that it features a good number of high quality teams and is a fairly open competition. At only 10 nations, Conmebol is too small for a modern group setup, international TV tournament (just in terms of the total number of nations). A combined championship only really adds a few quality sides, but does give it much greater scope and reach. It also would add some fodder if they went to 24, like the Euros. It's a poor format, but 24 to 16, etc. provides for a lot of exposure, and would in all likelihood allow just about every every Conmebol side to advance a round, to 16, which would be pleasing to those used to not ever advancing.
Gold cup is boring and a micky mouse tourney compared to the euro/ copa america centenario. If these two have any vision at all it happens when mls is much stronger.
I don't think the confederations would have to merge to merge their midterm championship. They'd still be separate for WC qualifying. And why exactly does the Gold Cup have to be every 2 years? Besides greed and poor planning, I mean...
Pricing issues aside, I like it. From a US standpoint, it's a step forward from the Gold Cup. The only real issue I see would be determining the Confederation Cup participant from CONCACAF which seems like a small issue.
Greed aside this is a poor confederation and if you want youth championships and Champions League and what have you CONCACAF pays for travel so teams can compete. The Gold Cup pays for all of it.
Looking at the numbers on Forbes, the revenue from the 2015 GC was estimated at $60m (of that $40m was estimated to have been bribes, FFS). The GCup every two years is a non-event on the soccer calendar. Create a bit of scarcity and it becomes more meaningful, and can attract far more revenue. Beyond that, dump the thing and create a Pan-Americas Championship, and the revenue skyrockets. Consider that the Euro Cup revenue isn't just higher than that, it's $1.4 billion higher than that, or at least was in '08 and '12. It will probably jump again this year. Concacaf does not have the profile to put on an event that attracts interest outside the Concacaf region, and really only has the profile to a secondary event within much of that region. Conmebol has the profile, but not the necessary number of teams. It's a good marriage, both bring quite a bit to the party and both would take quite a bit home. the chicken feed of the CCup would be fairly easily replaced. If you're worried about finding funds to pay for the CCL and the travel of small leagues, merging the tourneys and running it once every four years is a far better deal. Another idea, if the CCL doesn't work, it doesn't work.
I looked this weekend at the semifinal prices in case it's US vs. a non-Mexico team at NRG Stadium. You can look on Ticketmaster.com at seats and prices Cheapest ticket for corner upper nosebleeds (the 700 level!!) is $100. Everything in lower bowl is $200 or more. Club level is $150 and up. These are face value prices as of now. They had packages they sold a few months ago and we had early access to them but they were expensive as you had to buy all 3 games. I just didn't see the value in it